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[Frame] Steam Frame First Impressions (piefed.zip)
submitted 1 month ago by master_of_unlocking@piefed.zip to c/steamdeck@sopuli.xyz
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Got my Steam Frame yesterday and had a chance to play with it a bit. Figured I'd leave some details here since I haven't seen much.

Some background: My last headset was the OG Vive with Index Controllers. I've never used another headset other than a Quest 3 at a museum exhibit for a few minutes. So for me, the jump in quality is huge, but if you've kept up with the hardware it might not be.

So far, I'm really enjoying the Frame though it's not without issues. The headset is really comfortable and the initial setup was mostly pretty smooth. I did run into a bug where the keyboard input just stopped working while I was entering my wi-fi password, but a reboot fixed that.

I haven't been able to get streaming working (more on that later), but installing games on the headset worked well. I played Eleven Table Tennis (supported) and Maestro (not supported, but works) without any real issues. Neither of those games requires moving around the room so it was nice to be able to stand in the living room and just set my location instantly to start playing. No full room setup like the Vive so I'll definitely be using this more often. I've seen some complaints about the passthrough camera, but it worked great for me. I can't read text in that mode, but I was able to walk around the house without bumping into stuff just fine.

The streaming was the only real problem I had. I run Fedora 44 and was able to get the Frame to connect using the wifi dongle and give me the option to stream from my computer, but it would always fail. If you don't have SteamVR running on the host PC it just fails silently, but when I had it running I would get an error about video compression not being supported by my graphics card. I have a RX 9079XT so I doubt that's actually the problem, however I still haven't been able to figure out what I need to install to get it working. If I manage to fix it, I'll report back.

I got about an hour and a half of gameplay before the battery died on my but I expect that to be a bit better when streaming. You can play while plugged into power but the power supply that you can buy from valve doesn't have a super long cord.

Happy to answer any questions if you have them. I'm overall satisfied with the purchase and hope to see some software updates to fix the issues I did run into.

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[-] Thunderbird4@lemmy.world 66 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

I think they’ve acknowledged that streaming isn’t working on Linux yet, including with the Steam Machine. It sucks that they didn’t finish that feature before launch, but I’m sure they’re still working on it.

[-] master_of_unlocking@piefed.zip 40 points 1 month ago

Yeah, they mention here that Windows is the only officially supported platform but they do add some details for Linux users to try it out: https://help.steampowered.com/en/faqs/view/2668-0B6E-79E0-A85B#os

[-] uniquethrowagay@feddit.org 7 points 1 month ago

That should honestly be very clearly communicated before people can buy.
Their ads all show their devices working together.

[-] K3can@lemmy.radio 2 points 1 month ago

Oh dang, streaming from my PC was one of the main reasons why I jumped for the Frame after having skipped all the other brands.

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[-] lime@feddit.nu 19 points 1 month ago

does it say anywhere what it needs to charge? a usb powerbank in your back pocket could probably work for longer sessions.

also, any eye fatigue?

[-] master_of_unlocking@piefed.zip 17 points 1 month ago

The specs shown for the official charger are PD3.0 Type C power supply, 45W so I bet a decent power bank would work.

I did experience a little eye fatigue but nothing too crazy. When the battery ran out I still felt like I could have gone at least another hour.

[-] lime@feddit.nu 4 points 1 month ago

is that better than on the vive? i've used an index before and my eyes started hurting after like 20 minutes.

[-] master_of_unlocking@piefed.zip 4 points 1 month ago

I'm not sure. I never had any issues on the Vive and so far the Frame seems ok, but I've never used an Index before. From what I've heard, the Frame's display is very similar to the Index though.

[-] ExperiencedWinter@lemmy.world 4 points 1 month ago

With the index I found I was always trying to get my eyes positioned perfectly, and things outside the center of my vision were still blurry. The frame has much less positioning, and is much clearer when reading text.

[-] cynar@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago

It runs fine on a power bank. It's happy charging and playing simultaneously. I clocked about 15W when it was on but idling, with 50% battery.

[-] the16bitgamer@programming.dev 16 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

How is Beat Saber on the headset? I’m planning on getting one and want to run it on hardware.

[-] master_of_unlocking@piefed.zip 17 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

I haven't had a chance to try it yet, but that one is officially supported so it should be fine. Planning on testing it tonight so I can let you know for sure later.

Update: it works great

[-] shadshack@sh.itjust.works 7 points 1 month ago

I played it on mine yesterday and it ran perfectly fine. Still trying to figure out how to install mods for the game. Things are slightly complicated by the ARM architecture with compatibility.

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[-] Dangerhart@lemmy.zip 16 points 1 month ago

I'm using bazzite so super interested in how streaming goes for you. I've used wivrn and envision in the past but it looks like it will need fixes to work https://github.com/WiVRn/WiVRn/issues/1114

[-] Lemmchen@feddit.org 12 points 1 month ago

AFAIK streaming from Linux isn't supported yet.

[-] vividspecter@aussie.zone 13 points 1 month ago

It reportedly works as long as you aren't using gamescope session (i.e. the mode that launches the OS directly into Steam) on the host PC but YMMV by desktop/WM etc. I'm hoping for a quick wivrn port as SteamVR on desktop Linux has always been a bit undercooked, although you'd hope Valve is finally addressing that.

[-] Krafting@lemmy.world 9 points 1 month ago

Just have one question, in what region are you in ? EU, US... ? I've been able to buy the frame day one (lucky me!) but it still hasn't shipped yet

[-] master_of_unlocking@piefed.zip 9 points 1 month ago

I'm in the US and really close to one of the places they ship from. I paid last Thursday when I got the email and they shipped on Monday. Got it the next day.

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[-] LegitimateEngineer@lemmy.world 7 points 1 month ago

Def want to know how streaming and flat 2d gaming works in the frame for ya once you have it working. I only have an og rift so I’m on the waitlist for the 256 and also suspecting I’ll enjoy the upgrade. Also do you wear glasses? I’m probably going to splurge with the special lenses and the the kit that gives you the bracelets and top head strap for it but curious if you have either.

[-] master_of_unlocking@piefed.zip 8 points 1 month ago

I don't wear glasses, but I did get the ergonomic kit after seeing most reviewers say it's basically a requirement. I don't love the head strap so far but I may just need to adjust the fit. When I was using it yesterday it felt like I had to do extra work to get it to fit in a way that I could see clearly.

The bracelets are nice though and allow you to use the finger tracking more like the Index controller. It also comes with the improved plastic nose cover but I haven't installed that one yet. The one it comes with has been fine but there's a small gap.

[-] DonutsRMeh@lemmy.world 7 points 1 month ago

Do your eyes tire or does your vision get blurry after a while? I’ve never set any of these things on my head in my life, so I really don’t know. Lol

[-] vividspecter@aussie.zone 8 points 1 month ago

Some people get simulation sickness so that's something to be aware of. If you do, I suggest stopping immediately when it happens and increasing time in sessions gradually. A cooling fan and light clothing can help as well.

[-] DonutsRMeh@lemmy.world 4 points 1 month ago

Thank you. Good to know

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[-] master_of_unlocking@piefed.zip 4 points 1 month ago

I've never had an issue with that before, but I've only used the Vive. My eyes felt a bit dry after using the Frame for a couple of hours but I don't know if that's the same thing as making my eyes tired.

[-] DonutsRMeh@lemmy.world 4 points 1 month ago

Thank you. I’m just really scared to be completely honest. The idea of having a screen an inch away from my eyes terrifies me.

[-] Bongles@lemmy.zip 5 points 1 month ago

The lenses on VR headsets make it so you're focusing your eyes as if the screen is farther away. So much so, that I wear glasses, and VR is a little bit blurry for me because of it.

(This is based on my last headset, I'm still waiting for my frame)

[-] master_of_unlocking@piefed.zip 2 points 1 month ago

Yeah that makes sense. Not sure if they have them where you live but I’ve seen a few places that let you pay to use a VR headset at the location. Could be worth trying out to see if it’s for you before committing to an expensive headset.

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[-] cynar@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago

Not really. The biggest issue is motion sickness. A lot of games have you teleport around for that reason. I can personally handle it quite well, but some games still mess me up e.g. subnortica.

That said, some people do have eyes that are slightly off level with each other. That can cause interesting problems for them. It's not hugely common however.

[-] punkfungus@sh.itjust.works 7 points 1 month ago

I'm on the reservation list but haven't got my order email yet. I'm also on Fedora so this is relevant to my interests. Were you using SteamVR beta as is mentioned on the support page? And have you swapped your mesa driver for the rpmfusion one that enables proprietary hardware encoders?

Fedora has a philosophy of not shipping with non-free software, it leads to stuff like the GPU's encoders not working out of the box and is a bit of a pain point if you don't know about it.

[-] master_of_unlocking@piefed.zip 3 points 1 month ago

Right now the regular SteamVR and the beta are the same version, but I do currently have it set to the beta. The issue is almost certainly the mesa driver. I installed some of the proprietary encoders but I have a feeling I'm missing something. Going to keep trying tonight but unfortunately there's not a lot of information on the requirements just yet.

[-] chamomile@piefed.blahaj.zone 7 points 1 month ago

A friend of mine also running Fedora was able to get streaming working, in its case by installing the mesa-vulkan-drivers-freeworld drivers from rpmfusion.

[-] punkfungus@sh.itjust.works 6 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

It used to be you needed to swap the default mesa drivers for the freeworld ones, but it seems that's changed with Fedora 44. Now you should run:

sudo dnf install libva-utils
vainfo

That will show you the VAAPI profiles currently enabled. If your setup matches mine that will be profiles for JPEG, VP9 and AV1 but not H264 or HEVC. If that's the case install the codec-enabled driver:

sudo dnf install mesa-va-drivers-freeworld

Running vainfo again should then show a bunch of new profiles for H264 and HEVC.

If you have the H264 and HEVC profiles available but are still experiencing the issue then we probably need to wait for Valve to do their thing.

Edit: also you should probably reboot before trying to stream a game after installing the driver.

[-] master_of_unlocking@piefed.zip 5 points 1 month ago

Hey thanks for this! After installing the drivers I can stream 2D games but unfortunately VR streaming is still broken. Hopefully they can fix it soon.

[-] TimboSlice@discuss.online 7 points 1 month ago

Sure would be nice to get my purchase email...

[-] Rentlar@lemmy.ca 5 points 1 month ago

Are you near or far sighted at all, if so how was that experience?

Are you using only the base horizontal strap, or did you get the ergonomic gear add-on with the overhead strap and other stuff? Some reviewers were saying that it was only bearable with the extras.

[-] master_of_unlocking@piefed.zip 3 points 1 month ago

Not near/far sighted so I can't really answer anything related to that. I did get the ergonomic kit and I'd recommend it, but I wouldn't call it unbearable without it.

[-] gwheel@lemmy.zip 4 points 1 month ago

Ignoring the resolution/clarity upgrade, how does the color vibrancy/contrast compare with the Vive? I've been unsure about making a similar upgrade because of the industry switch from OLED to LCD, but given the ten year tech gap I'm hoping the difference isn't actually that big.

[-] master_of_unlocking@piefed.zip 6 points 1 month ago

The color vibrancy and contrast don't seem significantly different to me. The biggest difference is definitely the higher resolution and the lack of the screen door effect. To me, the higher resolution and removing the need to set up base stations were worth the upgrade but if you're happy with the Vive it's probably fine.

[-] bjoern_tantau@swg-empire.de 4 points 1 month ago

My guess concerning the streaming from Linux is that they haven't got Wayland capture to work perfectly yet. I remember seeing several issues about that. You also currently cannot stream the game mode screen.

You could try X11.

Hope it doesn't take too long to fix it. I will get mine on Monday.

[-] ExperiencedWinter@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago

got about an hour and a half of gameplay before the battery died on my but expect that to be a bit better when streaming.

I haven't run through a whole battery standalone yet, but don't expect streaming to have significantly more battery life than playing on the device. Standalone defaults to a lower frame rate, I saw 72, not sure if that's game specific, and streaming defaulted to 120

[-] TheAgeOfSuperboredom@lemmy.ca 3 points 1 month ago

Have you tried streaming over WiFi without the dongle?

[-] shadshack@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 month ago

I couldn't get the streaming with a dongle to work on my Linux install, but streaming over Wi-Fi worked perfectly fine.

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[-] master_of_unlocking@piefed.zip 3 points 1 month ago

I haven’t. My connection isn’t great where I have the Frame so I didn’t bother with it.

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[-] jwiggler@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 1 month ago

you ever use moonlight/sunshine?

im wondering if ill be able to do flat gaming streaming using moonlight installed to the steamframe

this is how i use my steamdeck currently and its absolutely killer. gaming pc performance on the tiny handheld.

[-] master_of_unlocking@piefed.zip 4 points 1 month ago

I haven't but I may try it out if I can't get the official streaming working. I've seen reports of 2D streaming working on Linux so it's likely something with my own environment. I don't know much about Moonlight but I guess my concern would be it working with the wi-fi dongle.

From what they have here it sounds like Linux streaming is still a work in progress: https://help.steampowered.com/en/faqs/view/2668-0B6E-79E0-A85B#os

[-] ExperiencedWinter@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago

Is moonlight/sunshine more performant than steam remote play on the steam deck?

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this post was submitted on 23 Sep 2026
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